View source for West Indies

{{Short description|Island region of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean}}
{{About|the island region in the Caribbean and North Atlantic Ocean}}
{{Infobox Continent
|title = West Indies
|image = Antillas (orthographic projection).svg
|area  = {{convert|239,681|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}
|population = {{UN_Population|Caribbean}}{{UN_Population|ref}}
|density = {{convert|151.5|/km2|abbr=on}}
|GDP_nominal = 
|GDP_per_capita = 
|ethnic_groups = [[Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean|Indigenous]], [[Afro-Caribbean people|Afro-Caribbean]], [[White Caribbeans|Euro-Caribbean]], [[Indo-Caribbeans|Indo-Caribbean]], [[Latin Americans|Latino]] or [[Hispanic]] ([[Spanish people|Spanish]], [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]], [[Mestizo]], [[Mulatto]], [[Pardo]], and [[Zambo]]), [[Chinese Caribbeans|Chinese]], [[Jews|Jewish]], [[Arabs|Arab]], [[Javanese people|Javanese]],<ref>{{cite book|last=McWhorter|title=Defining Creole|page=379|publisher=Oxford University Press US|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zdxJJVY54nYC&pg=PT387|isbn=978-0-19-516670-5|first=John H.}}</ref> [[Hmong people|Hmong]], [[Multiracial people|Multiracial]]
|religions = {{ublist|item_style=white-space:nowrap;
|{{Tree list}}
* 73.5% [[Christianity]]
** 52.3% [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]]
** 20.2% [[Protestantism]]
** 1.0% other [[Christians|Christian]]
{{Tree list/end}}
|20.6% [[Irreligion|no religion]]
|2.5% [[folk religion]]s
|2.1% [[Hinduism]]
|1.3% others<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jrd/9/1-2/article-p91_2.xml|title=Religions by Continent|journal=Journal of Religion and Demography|last1=Johnson|first1=Todd M.|last2=Crossing|first2=Peter F.|volume=9|date=14 October 2022|issue=1–2|pages=91–110|doi=10.1163/2589742x-bja10013}}</ref>}}
|demonym = [[West Indian]], [[Caribbean people|Caribbean]]
|countries = {{Collapsible list |title = [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the West Indies#Sovereign states|13]] | {{Flag|Antigua and Barbuda}} | {{Flag|Bahamas}} | {{Flag|Barbados}} | {{Flag|Cuba}} | {{Flag|Dominica}} | {{Flag|Dominican Republic}} | {{Flag|Grenada}} | {{Flag|Haiti}} | {{Flag|Jamaica}} | {{Flag|Saint Kitts and Nevis}} | {{Flag|Saint Lucia}} | {{Flag|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines}} | {{Flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}}} | 
|list_countries = 
|dependencies = {{Collapsible list |title = [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the West Indies#Dependent territories|18]] | {{Flag|Anguilla}} ([[The Crown|UK]]) | {{Flag|Aruba}} ([[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]]) | {{Flag|Bonaire}} ([[Netherlands]]) | {{Flag|British Virgin Islands}} ([[The Crown|UK]]) | {{Flag|Cayman Islands}} ([[The Crown|UK]]) | {{Flag|Curaçao}} ([[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]]) | {{Flag|Guadeloupe|local2}} ([[French Fifth Republic|France]]) | {{Flag|Martinique|territorial}} ([[French Fifth Republic|France]]) | {{Flag|Montserrat}} ([[The Crown|UK]]) | {{Flag|Haiti}}-{{Flag|Navassa Island}} ([[United States]]) and ([[Haiti]]) | {{Flag|Puerto Rico}} ([[United States]]) | {{Flag|Saba}} ([[Netherlands]]) | {{Flag|Saint Barthélemy|local}} ([[France]]) | {{Flagicon image|Local flag of the Collectivity of Saint Martin.svg}} [[Collectivity of Saint Martin|Saint Martin]] ([[France]]) |  {{Flag|Sint Eustatius}} ([[Netherlands]]) | {{Flag|Sint Maarten}} ([[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]]) | {{Flag|Turks and Caicos Islands}} ([[The Crown|UK]]) | {{Flag|US Virgin Islands}} ([[United States]])
 }}
|languages = [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Caribbean English language|Caribbean English]], [[French language|French]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[French-based creole languages|French Creoles]], [[English-based creole languages|English Creoles]], [[Dutch-based creole languages|Dutch Creoles]], [[Papiamento]], [[Caribbean Hindustani]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], and [[Languages of the Caribbean|others]]
|time = [[UTC−05:00]] to [[UTC−04:00]]
|internet = [[List of Internet top-level domains|Multiple]]
|calling_code = [[List of country calling codes|Multiple]]
|cities = [[List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean]]<br> [[Santo Domingo]]<br /> [[Havana]]<br /> [[Port-au-Prince]]<br /> [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]]<br /> [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]]<br />[[Santiago de Cuba]]<br /> [[Santiago de los Caballeros]]<br /> [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]]<br /> [[Camagüey]]<br /> [[Cap-Haïtien]]
|m49 = <code>029</code> – [[Caribbean]]<br /><code>419</code> – [[Latin America]]<br /><code>019</code> – [[Americas]]<br /><code>001</code> – [[World]]
}}

The '''West Indies''' is a [[Subregion#North America|subregion]] of [[North America]], surrounded by the [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic Ocean]] and the [[Caribbean Sea]], which comprises 13 independent [[island country|island countries]] and 19 [[dependent territory|dependencies]] in three [[archipelago]]s: the [[Greater Antilles]], the [[Lesser Antilles]], and the [[Lucayan Archipelago]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Caldecott|first=Alfred|year=1898|title=The Church in the West Indies|url=https://archive.org/details/churchinwestind00unkngoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/churchinwestind00unkngoog/page/n17 11]|location=London|publisher=[[Frank Cass and Co.]]|access-date=12 December 2013}}</ref>

The subregion includes all the islands in the [[Antilles]], in addition to [[The Bahamas]] and the [[Turks and Caicos Islands]], which are in the [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic Ocean]]. The term is often interchangeable with "Caribbean", although the latter may also include coastal regions of [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America]]n mainland nations, including [[Mexico]], [[Belize]], [[Honduras]], [[Panama]], [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], [[French Guiana]], [[Guyana]], and [[Suriname]], as well as the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] island nation of [[Bermuda]], all of which are geographically distinct from the three main island groups, but culturally related.

==Terminology==
The English term ''Indie'' is derived from the [[Classical Latin]] ''India'', a reference to the territories in [[South Asia]] adjacent and east to the [[Indus River]]. ''India'' itself derived successively from [[Hellenistic Greek]] ''India'' ( ''Ἰνδία''), [[ancient Greek]] ''Indos'' ( ''Ἰνδός''), [[Old Persian]] ''[[Hindush]]'' (an eastern province of the [[Achaemenid Empire]]), and ultimately its [[cognate]], the [[Sanskrit]] ''Sindhu'', or "river", specifically the [[Indus River]] and its well-settled southern basin.<ref>{{Citation|title=India (noun)|work=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]|year=2009|url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/94384#eid677811|edition=3rd}} (subscription required)</ref>{{sfn|Thieme|1970|pp=447–450}} The [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] referred to the Indians as ''Indoi'' (''{{ISO 639-2|GRC|Ἰνδοί}}''), which translates as "The people of the Indus".{{sfn|Kuiper|2010|p=86}}

[[File:East and West Indies.svg|right|thumb|300px|The current composition of the Indies is as follows: {{legend|#F60|[[East Indies]] ([[Mainland Southeast Asia|Indochina]] and [[Malay Archipelago|Insulindia]])}}
{{legend|#F96|[[Greater India|Indies]] ([[Indian subcontinent]] and [[Myanmar]])}}
{{legend|#EFEFAF|[[Western New Guinea|West Papua]] (part of East Indies)}}
{{legend|#14A7E7|'''West Indies''' (present-day; historically included the [[Americas]] entirely)}}
{{legend|#97D7E7|'''West Indies''' (region at times included)}}]]

In 1492, [[Christopher Columbus]] and his [[Spaniards|Spanish]] fleet left [[Spain]] seeking a western sea passage to the [[Eastern world]], hoping to profit from the lucrative [[spice trade]] emanating from [[Hindustan]], [[Mainland Southeast Asia|Indochina]], and [[Malay Archipelago|Insulindia]], the regions currently found within the [[Indian subcontinent|Indian Subcontinent]] and [[Southeast Asia]], which were first simply referred to by [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] explorers as the ''Indias (Indies)''.

Thinking he had landed on the easternmost part of the ''Indies'' in the [[Eastern world]] when he came upon the [[New World]], [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]] used the term ''Indias'' to refer to the [[Americas]], calling its [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|native people]] ''Indios (Indians)''. To avoid confusion between the known ''Indies'' of the [[Eastern Hemisphere]] and the newly discovered ''Indies'' of the [[Western Hemisphere]], the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] named the territories in the East ''[[East Indies|Indias Orientales (East Indies)]]'' and the territories in the West ''Indias Occidentales (West Indies)''. Originally, the term ''West Indies'' applied to all of the [[Americas]]''.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=gtm|title=History of the Caribbean (West Indies)|website=www.historyworld.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/west+indies|title=west+indies &#124; Origin and meaning of phrase west+indies|website=Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/asia/southeast-asia-physical-geography/east-indies|title=East Indies|website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

The Indies from both regions were further distinguished depending on the [[Great power|European world power]] to which they belong. In the [[East Indies]], there were the [[Spanish East Indies]] and the [[Dutch East Indies]]. In the West Indies, the [[Spanish West Indies]], the [[Dutch Caribbean|Dutch West Indies]], the [[French West Indies]], the [[British West Indies]], and the [[Danish West Indies]].

The term was used to name the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] [[Council of the Indies]], the [[British Empire|British]] [[East India Company]], the [[Dutch colonial empire|Dutch]] [[Dutch East India Company|East India]] and [[Dutch West India Company|West India]] companies, the [[French colonial empire|French]] [[French East India Company|East India Company]], and the [[Danish overseas colonies|Danish]] [[Danish East India Company|East India Company]].

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Caribbean}}

[[History of the Caribbean#Before European contact|Many cultures]] were indigenous to these islands, with evidence dating some of them back to the mid-6th millennium BCE.

In the late 16th century, French, English and Dutch merchants and privateers began operations in the [[Caribbean Sea]], attacking Spanish and Portuguese shipping and coastal areas. They often took refuge and refitted their ships in the areas the Spanish could not conquer, including the islands of the Lesser Antilles, the northern coast of South America, including the mouth of the [[Orinoco]], and the Atlantic Coast of Central America. In the Lesser Antilles, they managed to establish a foothold following the colonisation of [[Saint Kitts]] in 1624 and [[Barbados]] in 1626, and when the [[Sugar Revolution]] took off in the mid-17th century, they brought in thousands of enslaved Africans to work the fields and mills as labourers. These enslaved Africans wrought a demographic revolution, replacing or joining with either the indigenous Caribs or the European settlers who were there as [[indentured servitude|indentured servants]].

The struggle between the northern Europeans and the Spanish spread southward in the mid to late seventeenth century, as English, Dutch, French and Spanish colonists, and in many cases, enslaved Africans first entered and then occupied the coast of [[The Guianas]] (which fell to the French, English and Dutch) and the Orinoco valley, which fell to the Spanish. The Dutch, allied with the Caribs of the Orinoco, would eventually carry the struggles deep into South America, first along the Orinoco and then along the northern reaches of the [[Amazon River|Amazon]].
[[File:West Indies - Island Groups.svg|left|thumb|Island groups of the West Indies, in relation to the continental [[Americas]]]]
Since no European country had occupied much of Central America, gradually, the English of Jamaica established alliances with the [[Mosquito Coast|Miskito Kingdom]] of modern-day [[Nicaragua]] and [[Honduras]] and then began logging on the coast of modern-day [[Belize]]. These interconnected commercial and diplomatic relations comprised the [[Western Caribbean Zone]] in place in the early-18th century. In the Miskito Kingdom, the rise to power of the [[Miskito Sambu|Miskito-Zambos]], who originated in the survivors of a rebellion aboard a slave ship in the 1640s and the introduction of enslaved Africans by British settlers within the Miskito area and in Belize, also transformed this area into one with a high percentage of persons of African descent as was found in most of the rest of the Caribbean.

From the 17th through the 19th century, the European colonial territories of the West Indies were the [[French West Indies]], [[British West Indies]], the [[Danish West Indies]], the [[Netherlands Antilles]] (Dutch West Indies), and the [[Spanish West Indies]].

In 1916, [[Denmark]] sold the Danish West Indies to the United States<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.virgin-islands-history.org/en/history/sale-of-the-danish-west-indian-islands-to-the-usa/two-telegrams-about-the-sale/|title=Two telegrams about the sale – The Danish West-Indies|work=The Danish West-Indies|access-date=13 October 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> for US$25 million in gold, per the [[Treaty of the Danish West Indies]]. The Danish West Indies became an [[insular area]] of the U.S., called the [[United States Virgin Islands]].

Between 1958 and 1962, the United Kingdom re-organised all their West Indies island territories (except the [[British Virgin Islands]] and [[the Bahamas]]) into the [[West Indies Federation]]. They hoped that the Federation would coalesce into a single, independent nation. The Federation had limited powers, numerous practical problems, and a lack of popular support; consequently, it was dissolved by the British in 1963, with nine provinces eventually becoming independent sovereign states and four becoming current [[British Overseas Territories]].

"West Indies" or "West India" was a part of the names of several [[Chartered company|companies]] of the 17th and 18th centuries, including the [[Danish West India Company]], the [[Dutch West India Company]], the [[French West India Company]], and the [[Swedish West India Company]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JhKAgAAQBAJ&q=Danish+West+India+Company%2C+the+Dutch+West+India+Company%2C+the+French+West+India+Company%2C+and+the+Swedish+West+India+Company.&pg=PA73|title=The Transportation Experience: Policy, Planning, and Deployment|last1=Garrison|first1=William L.|last2=Levinson|first2=David M.|date=2014|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=9780199862719|language=en}}</ref>

[[West Indian]] is the official term used by the U.S. government to refer to people of the West Indies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/social.html|title=Info Please U.S. Social Statistics|access-date=1 October 2015}}</ref>

The term survives today mainly through the [[West Indies cricket team]], representing all of the nations in the West Indian islands.

== Geology ==
[[File:Caribe-Político.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Caribbean Basin]] countries]]
[[File:Atlantic-trench.JPG|thumb|The subduction of the [[South American Plate]] and part of the [[North American Plate]] beneath the [[Caribbean Plate]] produces both the [[Puerto Rico Trench]], the deepest part of the [[Atlantic Ocean]], as well as the active volcanoes of the [[Lesser Antilles]] (bottom left of the image, south of the [[Virgin Islands]])|alt=]]

The West Indies are a geologically complex island system consisting of 7,000 islands and [[islet]]s stretching over 3,000&nbsp;km (2000 miles) from the [[Florida]] peninsula of [[North America]] south-southeast to the northern coast of [[Venezuela]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/West-Indies-island-group-Atlantic-Ocean|title=West Indies {{!}} History, Maps, Facts, & Geography|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=12 March 2019}}</ref> These islands include active [[volcano]]es, low-lying [[atoll]]s, raised [[limestone]] islands, and large fragments of [[continental crust]] containing tall mountains and insular rivers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Ricklefs Robert|last2=Bermingham Eldredge|date=27 July 2008|title=The West Indies as a laboratory of biogeography and evolution|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=363|issue=1502|pages=2393–2413|doi=10.1098/rstb.2007.2068|pmc=2606802|pmid=17446164}}</ref> Each of the three [[archipelago]]s of the West Indies has a unique origin and geologic composition.

=== Greater Antilles ===
The [[Greater Antilles]] is geologically the oldest of the three [[archipelago]]s and includes both the largest islands ([[Cuba]], [[Jamaica]], [[Hispaniola]], and [[Puerto Rico]]) and the tallest mountains ([[Pico Duarte]], [[Blue Mountains (Jamaica)|Blue Mountain]], [[Pic la Selle]], [[Pico Turquino]]) in the Caribbean.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Biogeography of the West Indies : patterns and perspectives|date=2001|publisher=CRC Press|editor-last1=Woods|editor-first1=Charles Arthur|editor-last2=Sergile|editor-first2=Florence Etienne|isbn=978-0849320019|edition=2nd|location=Boca Raton, FL|oclc=46240352}}</ref> The islands of the Greater Antilles are composed of [[Stratum|strata]] of different geological ages including [[Precambrian]] fragmented remains of the [[North American Plate]] (older than 539 million years), [[Jurassic]] aged limestone (201.3-145 million years ago), as well as [[island arc]] deposits and [[oceanic crust]] from the [[Cretaceous]] (145-66 million years ago).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/botany/WestIndies/#physical|title=Flora of the West Indies / Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution|website=naturalhistory2.si.edu|access-date=14 April 2019}}</ref>

The Greater Antilles originated near the Isthmian region of present-day [[Central America]] in the [[Late Cretaceous]] (commonly referred to as the Proto-Antilles), then drifted eastward arriving in their current location when colliding with the Bahama Platform of the North American Plate ca. 56 million years ago in the late [[Paleocene]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Graham|first=Alan|date=2003|title=Geohistory Models and Cenozoic Paleoenvironments of the Caribbean Region|journal=Systematic Botany|volume=28|issue=2|pages=378–386|issn=0363-6445|jstor=3094007|doi=10.1043/0363-6445-28.2.378|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024}}</ref> This collision caused subduction and volcanism in the Proto-Antillean area and likely resulted in continental uplift of the Bahama Platform and changes in sea level.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Santiago–Valentin|first1=Eugenio|last2=Olmstead|first2=Richard G.|date=2004|title=Historical biogeography of Caribbean plants: introduction to current knowledge and possibilities from a phylogenetic perspective|journal=Taxon|language=en|volume=53|issue=2|pages=299–319|doi=10.2307/4135610|issn=1996-8175|jstor=4135610|s2cid=16369341|url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0d1c/93e2bec81640d1b19a70fd3932075471237d.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617063241/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0d1c/93e2bec81640d1b19a70fd3932075471237d.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 June 2020}}</ref> The Greater Antilles have continuously been exposed since the start of the [[Paleocene]] or at least since the Middle [[Eocene]] (66-40 million years ago), but which areas were above sea level throughout the history of the islands remains unresolved.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Iturralde-Vinent|first=Manuel A.|date=1 September 2006|title=Meso-Cenozoic Caribbean Paleogeography: Implications for the Historical Biogeography of the Region|journal=International Geology Review|volume=48|issue=9|pages=791–827|doi=10.2747/0020-6814.48.9.791|issn=0020-6814|bibcode=2006IGRv...48..791I|s2cid=55392113}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

The oldest rocks in the Greater Antilles are located in Cuba. They consist of [[Metamorphic rock|metamorphosed]] [[Greywacke|graywacke]], [[argillite]], [[tuff]], [[mafic]] [[Igneous rock|igneous]] extrusive flows, and [[carbonate rock]].<ref>{{Citation|last1=Khudoley|first1=K. M.|title=Paleogeography and Geological History of Greater Antilles|date=1971|work=Geological Society of America Memoirs|pages=1–192|publisher=Geological Society of America|language=en|doi=10.1130/mem129-p1|isbn=978-0813711294|last2=Meyerhoff|first2=A. A.}}</ref> It is estimated that nearly 70% of Cuba consists of karst [[limestone]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.geolounge.com/caribbean-islands-greater-antilles/|title=Caribbean Islands: the Greater Antilles|last=geolounge|date=8 January 2012|website=GeoLounge: All Things Geography|language=en-US|access-date=14 April 2019}}</ref> The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are a [[granite]] outcrop rising over 2,000 meters (6000'), while the rest of the island to the west consists mainly of [[karst]] limestone.<ref name=":4" /> Much of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands were formed by the collision of the Caribbean Plate with the North American Plate and consist of 12 [[island arc]] [[terrane]]s.<ref name=":5">{{Citation|last1=Mann|first1=Paul|title=An overview of the geologic and tectonic development of Hispaniola|date=1991|work=Geological Society of America Special Papers|pages=1–28|publisher=Geological Society of America|language=en|doi=10.1130/spe262-p1|isbn=978-0813722627|last2=Draper|first2=Grenville|last3=Lewis|first3=John F.}}</ref> These terranes consist of [[oceanic crust]], volcanic and [[Pluton|plutonic rock]].<ref name=":5" />

=== Lesser Antilles ===
The [[Lesser Antilles]] is a volcanic [[island arc]] rising along the leading edge of the [[Caribbean Plate]] due to the subduction of the Atlantic seafloor of the North American and [[South American Plate|South American plates]]. Major islands of the Lesser Antilles likely emerged less than 20 Ma, during the [[Miocene]].<ref name=":2" /> The volcanic activity that formed these islands began in the Paleogene, after a period of [[volcanism]] in the Greater Antilles ended, and continues today.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Santiago-Valentin|first1=Eugenio|last2=Olmstead|first2=Richard G.|date=2004|title=Historical Biogeography of Caribbean Plants: Introduction to Current Knowledge and Possibilities from a Phylogenetic Perspective|journal=Taxon|volume=53|issue=2|pages=299–319|doi=10.2307/4135610|issn=0040-0262|jstor=4135610}}</ref> The main arc of the Lesser Antilles runs north from the coast of [[Venezuela]] to the [[Anegada Passage]], a [[strait]] separating them from the Greater Antilles, and includes 19 active volcanoes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uwiseismic.com/General.aspx?id=46|title=The University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre|website=uwiseismic.com|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330004626/http://uwiseismic.com/General.aspx?id=46|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Lucayan Archipelago ===
The [[Lucayan Archipelago]] includes [[The Bahamas]] and the [[Turks and Caicos Islands]], a chain of [[coral reef|barrier reefs]] and low islands atop the Bahama Platform. The Bahama Platform is a carbonate block formed of marine sediments and fixed to the North American Plate.<ref name=":1" /> The emergent islands of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos likely formed from accumulated deposits of wind-blown sediments during [[Pleistocene]] glacial periods of lower sea level.<ref name=":1" />

== Countries and territories by subregion and archipelago ==
[[File:CIA map Central America & Caribbean.png|thumb|upright=1.8|Political map of the West Indies]]
{{Multiple image|total_width = 300
| align        = right
| direction    = vertical
| image1       = Life expectancy map -Caribbean -2019 -with names.png
| image2       = Life expectancy map -Caribbean -2021 -with names.png
| footer_align = center
| footer       = [[Life expectancy]] in the West Indies in 2019 and 2021
}}

=== Caribbean (core area) ===
{{Main|Caribbean}}

==== Antilles ====
{{Main|Antilles}}

===== Greater Antilles =====
{{Main|Greater Antilles}}

* ''{{Flag|Cayman Islands}}'' ([[The Crown|United Kingdom]])
* {{Flag|Cuba}}
* {{Flag|Jamaica}}
* ''{{Flag|Navassa Island}}'' ([[United States]])
* ''{{Flag|Puerto Rico}}'' ([[United States]])
* [[Hispaniola]] 
** {{Flag|Dominican Republic}}
** {{Flag|Haiti}}

===== Lesser Antilles =====
{{Main|Lesser Antilles}}

====== Leeward Antilles ======
{{Main|Leeward Antilles}}

* ''{{Flagicon|Kingdom of the Netherlands}} [[ABC islands (Leeward Antilles)|ABC islands]]''
** ''{{Flag|Aruba}}'' ([[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]])
** ''{{Flag|Bonaire}}<sup>*</sup>'' ([[Netherlands]])
** ''{{Flag|Curaçao}}'' ([[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]])
* ''{{Flag|Federal Dependencies of Venezuela}}'' ([[Venezuela]])
* ''{{Flag|Nueva Esparta}}'' ([[Venezuela]])

====== Leeward Islands ======
{{Main|Leeward Islands}}

* ''{{Flag|Anguilla}}'' ([[The Crown|United Kingdom]])
* {{Flag|Antigua and Barbuda}}
* ''{{Flag|Guadeloupe|local2}}'' ([[French Fifth Republic|France]])
** ''[[La Désirade]]''
** ''[[Îles des Saintes|Les Saintes]]''
** ''[[Marie-Galante]]''
* ''{{Flag|Montserrat}}'' ([[The Crown|United Kingdom]])
* ''{{Flag|Saint Barthélemy|local}}'' ([[France]])
* {{Flag|Saint Kitts and Nevis}}
* ''{{Flagicon image|Local flag of the Collectivity of Saint Martin.svg}} [[Collectivity of Saint Martin|Saint Martin]]'' ([[France]])
* ''{{Flagicon|Kingdom of the Netherlands}} [[SSS islands]]''
** ''{{Flag|Saba}}<sup>*</sup>'' ([[Netherlands]])
** ''{{Flag|Sint Eustatius}}<sup>*</sup>'' ([[Netherlands]]) 
** ''{{Flag|Sint Maarten}}'' ([[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]])
* [[Virgin Islands]]
** ''{{Flag|British Virgin Islands}}'' ([[The Crown|United Kingdom]])
** ''{{Flagicon|Puerto Rico}} [[Spanish Virgin Islands]]'' ([[United States]])
** ''{{Flag|U.S. Virgin Islands}}'' ([[United States]])

====== Windward Islands ======
{{Main|Windward Islands}}

* {{Flag|Dominica}}
* {{Flag|Grenada}}
** ''[[Carriacou and Petite Martinique]]''
* ''{{Flag|Martinique|territorial}}'' ([[French Fifth Republic|France]])
* {{Flag|Saint Lucia}}
* {{Flag|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines}}

====== Isolated islands in the Lesser Antilles ======
* {{Flag|Barbados}}<sup>†</sup>
* {{Flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}<sup>†</sup>

==== Lucayan Archipelago ====
{{Main|Lucayan Archipelago}}

* {{Flag|Bahamas}}
* ''{{Flag|Turks and Caicos Islands}}'' ([[The Crown|United Kingdom]])

==== Isolated island in the Caribbean ====
{{See also|List of Caribbean islands}}

* ''{{Flagicon|Federal Dependencies of Venezuela}} [[Isla de Aves|Aves Island]]'' ([[Venezuela]])

=== Central America ===
{{Main|Central America}}
{{See also|Western Caribbean zone}}

* {{Flag|Belize}}
* {{Flag|Costa Rica}}
* {{Flag|Guatemala}}
* {{Flag|Honduras}}
* {{Flag|Nicaragua}}
* {{Flag|Panama}}
* ''{{Flag|Quintana Roo}}'' ([[Mexico]]<sup>^</sup>)
* ''{{Flag|Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina|name=San Andrés and Providencia}}'' ([[Colombia]])
** ''[[Bajo Nuevo Bank]]<sup>~</sup>''
** ''[[Serranilla Bank]]<sup>~</sup>''
* ''{{Flag|Yucatán}}'' ([[Mexico]]<sup>^</sup>)

=== Northern America ===
{{Main|Northern America}}

* ''{{Flag|Bermuda}}'' ([[The Crown|United Kingdom]])

=== South America ===
{{Main|South America}}
{{See also|Caribbean South America}}

* {{Flag|Colombia}}
* ''{{Flag|French Guiana|local}}'' ([[French Fifth Republic|France]])
* {{Flag|Guyana}}
* {{Flag|Suriname}}
* {{Flag|Venezuela}}

'''N.B.:''' Territories in ''italics'' are parts of transregional sovereign states or non-sovereign dependencies.

<sup>*</sup> These three [[Dutch Caribbean]] territories form the [[Caribbean Netherlands|BES islands]].

<sup>†</sup> [[Physical geography|Physiographically]], these are [[Island#Continental islands|continental islands]] not part of the volcanic Windward Islands arc. Based on proximity, these islands are sometimes grouped with the [[Windward Islands]] culturally and politically.

<sup>~</sup> [[Territorial dispute|Disputed territories]] administered by [[Colombia]].

<sup>^</sup> The [[United Nations geoscheme]] includes [[Mexico]] in [[Central America]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/|title=UNSD Methodology – Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49)|access-date=2020-05-04|archive-date=2017-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830170949/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Geography}}
* [[Caribbean Basin Initiative]]
* [[Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act]]
* [[Caribbean Community]]
* [[History of the British West Indies]]
* [[Spanish colonization of the Americas]]
* [[West Indies Federation]]
* [[West Indies cricket team]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|West Indies}}
* Cave, Roderick, and R. Cave. 1978. "Early Printing and the Book Trade in the West Indies". ''Library Quarterly'' 48 (April): 163–92.
* Cromwell, Jesse. "More than Slaves and Sugar: Recent Historiography of the Trans-imperial Caribbean and Its Sinew Populations". ''History Compass'' (2014) 12#10 pp 770–783. 
* Higman, Barry W. ''A Concise History of the Caribbean''. (2011) 
* {{Cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Alfred Lewis|author-link=Alfred Lewis Jones|title=The Empire and the century|date=1905|publisher=John Murray|location=London|pages=877–882|chapter=[[s:The Empire and the century/The West Indies|The West Indies]]}}
* Martin, Tony, ''Caribbean History: From Pre-colonial Origins to the Present'' (2011)

{{Caribbean topic}}
{{Caribbean topics}}
{{Regions of the world}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|19|N|71|W|dim:1000000|display=title}}

[[Category:West Indies| ]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]